The Accidental Honeymoon (16 page)

“Why?” Karin asks.

“Because security footage is no longer stored within a store location. In the past, you would just have a videotape recording whatever happens in the store. Now, all the video is captured and stored in a remote location.”

“They must have hacked into the company,” Michelle discerns.

“Exactly,” Ryan responds. “Now if someone gave Tor Janz the hacked footage, he would be safe as a so-called member of the press. But if Tor Janz ordered someone to hack into the system...”

“That’s a first degree felony punishable up to ten years in prison,” Author answers.

“Correct. I am almost certain Tor hired someone to get this footage. Look at this article. It has security video from three different angles. He must have had someone hack into the entire system and downloaded days, maybe weeks, worth of footage.”

“Well, where do we start?” Michelle asks.

Ryan looks at the article. He pays particular attention to the name attributed to the posting. “We might as well start with the person who wrote the article,” Ryan answers as he points to the name on the byline. “Rick Graves.”

Rick doesn’t know how he made it home. As soon as the story was posted, he escaped into his five year old Mazda and scrambled out of the parking lot. He is so tired that the vehicle nearly swerved out of its lane several times. The exhausted editor simply prayed he wouldn’t be pulled over. That is the last thing he needed. Rick pulls up to his town home. He staggers out of the car like a drunk and wobbles his way to the front door. As soon as he opens it, he sees his wife - his worried, angry, confused wife.

“Why haven’t you answered your phone?!”

“I couldn’t answer,” Rick mumbles.

Rick’s wife looks over her husband. One glance at his sunken eyes tells the story. “You have to get out of that job. It’s going to kill you.”

Rick nods. He slowly climbs up the stairs. He staggers into his bedroom and falls face first onto the mattress. Before his head settles onto the pillow, he blacks out. Sleep. Finally.

****

“I want to know everything about Rick Graves. Let me know how long he has worked at the Barbarian Blog. I want to know where he lives. Everything!” Ryan demands. Author takes notes while Michelle wonders if her boss has lost his mind.

“What exactly do you have planned, Ryan?” Michelle asks.

“I’m going to find out how they got the footage. If they hired a hacker, then I am going to get the FBI involved.”

“Can’t we just hire a team of private investigators?” Michelle asks.

“I want to handle this personally. He went after my wife. I’m going after him,” Ryan tells everyone in the room.

Karin is nervous yet excited to see her man take the gloves off on this bully blogger. Ryan takes a good look at the bust of Napoleon lording over the room. Author looks at his tablet computer and begins to write down some notes. “I have his home address,” Author declares.

“That was fast,” Ryan remarks.

“He is not exactly unlisted,” Author remarks. He makes a few other searches related to Rick Graves. He finds photos of Rick attending a fiction writing seminar. “It looks like our blogger is an aspiring Hemingway. He attended a fiction writing seminar.”

“Chances are he is not really happy working at the Barbarian Blog.”

“Who could be happy working for that asshole Tor Janz,” Author remarks.

Ryan paces the room. “Let me see a photo of him,” the CEO orders. Author quickly does another web search and finds Rick’s personal blog. “I found his wordpress blog,” Author declares.

Ryan looks at Author’s computer. He checks out the blog. He takes careful examination of Rick himself. He looks tired and haggard in every photo. “I can tell from his face that he doesn’t like what he is doing for a living. I bet Tor really treats this guy like shit,” Ryan discerns. For a moment, the Emperor CEO feels bad for the person who slandered him and his wife. Then he remembers that his true target is not Rick but Tor. However, he will have to use Rick to get to Tor.

The CEO looks over at his wife. Then he gets an idea. “I know how I am going to get to Rick.”

“How?” Author and Michelle ask.

“I will have him come to me.”

“And how is that going to happen?” Author asks.

“I’m going to throw out a little bait and see if he bites,” Ryan answers. Then he walks over to his wife. “You better take a little nap this afternoon. We’re going to be up a little late again tonight.”

Karin has no idea what he means by that. But she is intrigued. And a bit too energized to take a nap anytime soon.

****

“Honey? Honey?” A soft voice whispers into Rick’s ears. The editor opens his eyes and sees his wife through the haze. He slowly lifts his head from the pillow a little unsure as to what time of day it is. Rick looks at the clock. It reads 11:15, though he is not sure if it is 11 in the morning or the evening. He looks out of the bedroom window and sees darkness. Then he remembers coming home exhausted at a little after one p.m. “Someone dropped off a letter for you.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

Rick looks at the outside of the letter. It is addressed simply to “Rick.” The blogger sits up in bed and opens the letter.
“Love the story you wrote about Emperor. I am a former employee who has some information on Ryan Wilde and his wife that you may find interesting. I also have video evidence to back up my story. If you are interested, meet me at the Jack In the Box on El Camino at Midnight.”

“Who gave it to you?” Ryan asks his wife.

“Just some guy. I didn’t take time to look at him. He looked like he worked for a courier service.”

Rick immediately gets up from his bed and looks around for his shoes. Then he realizes that he is still wearing them from passing out ten hours ago. The editor stands up from the bed and grabs his car keys. “I have to go.”

“Where?!”

“I’ll be right back in a few hours!” Rick answers as he races out of the bedroom and heads for the door. Rick leaves his town home and drives off to the Jack In The Box down the street from his place.

Rick has gotten these types of anonymous messages before. They always lead to some of the most popular stories on the Barbarian Blog. And Rick’s ability to get employees to trust him is one of the reasons why he has been able to break many stories for Tor. During a red-light stop, Rick takes another look at the letter. In his eight years as a blogger and editor, he has never been able to get a source from inside Emperor Technologies. In fact, Emperor has been the impenetrable fortress of Silicon Valley. None of the employees or former employees ever talk. Rick surmises that the initial story on Emperor will lead to a flood of sources from inside the company.

The editor arrives at the Jack In The Box parking lot at three minutes to midnight. Rick has always liked Jack In the Box burgers. He figures he could reward himself with a meal after meeting with the former employee. Rick walks inside the nearly empty restaurant save for a few Stanford students looking for a late night snack. Rick begins to scan the establishment for anyone who would be a little older than college age. He starts to walk around the dining area. As Rick makes his way towards the back of the dining area, he hears a woman’s voice calling him. “Hey Rick.”

Rick turns around and looks down. Sitting at the booth is a very familiar face. It’s the woman from the security cameras. The woman he has been staring at for almost forty hours straight - Karin Wilde. He wonders if he is hallucinating. Rick stares at her as though she were a figment of his imagination. For a moment, Rick thinks that he is still dream.

“Have a seat,” Karin tells Rick. Now, he realizes that he is not dreaming. He knows that the letter, delivered to his home, is not genuine. He knows he has just been set-up. Rick wants to say something. He wants to apologize. In his six years as a writer and editor at The Barbarian Blog, Rick has never sat one-on-one with the subject of one of his hit pieces.

“How are you? Would you like anything to eat? I’m having fries,” Karin tells the horrified Rick.

“No. No. I’m not hungry. Did you write the letter?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have something to tell me?”

“No, I have several things to ask you.”

Rick knows right away that he doesn’t want to be in this restaurant. “You are not going to ask me anything,” the editor tells Karin as he gets up from the booth.

“Alright, Rick. Let me ask you a couple of questions,” a very familiar voice booms from over Rick’s shoulder. The editor turns around and finds himself face to face with Ryan Wilde.

Rick can not speak. He can’t even move his face.
Rick forgets to breathe.
The editor’s legs get weak. He sits down to prevent himself from falling down. Ryan calmly sits down at the booth directly opposite from the shell-shocked editor. Ryan looks him in the eye. “That was one extensively written article you had there. Did you write that all yourself?”

“Ahem, yes,” Rick answers as he clears his throat. “Well, Tor sort of guided me through the particulars of the article.”

“How about the words written about my wife?”

“Tor made me write that,” Rick answers quickly.

“I see. Well, the words are impressive. But what was more impressive was the video footage The Barbarian Blog ‘obtained’ for the article. Let me ask you this, has anyone ever sent you video of anything from three different camera angles? I mean, whoever had access to that video must have gotten it directly from the company’s central system. No ordinary Northface employee would have access to that.”

Rick’s face turns white. He suddenly realizes what Ryan is getting at.
He knows that the video came from a hacker.
Now, the editor just wants to escape from the restaurant.

“The video was given to us. We have a First Amendment right - as members of the press - to protect our sources.”

“Rick.”

“Yes.”

“I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that someone gave you that video footage.”

Rick looks at the most powerful man in Silicon Valley in the eye. He has seen Ryan Wilde’s face on the covers of magazines, newspapers and on every news channel imaginable. Rick can’t lie to his face.
He is too scared to repeat that lie.

“Tor Janz ordered you to hack into their systems, didn’t he?”

Rick feels ill. He begins to hyperventilate. “I have the freedom of the press,” Rick mumbles in a knee-jerk response. Ryan leans in and gets close to his face. “Listen to me very carefully. My focus is no longer on my company. All of my time, resources and energy will be pointed directly at you. I am going to find out the truth. And then I’m going to hand that information to the FBI. You know how many years hackers can get these days, don’t you?”

“I have a wife and a child,” Rick whimpers.

“Then take your chance to do the right thing. Tell the FBI everything. The Feds don’t care about nailing you. They are going to want Tor Janz,” Ryan explains. “You know, I looked at your personal blog. You wanted to be a novelist. Now you do this shit for a living. Are you proud of what you do?”

Rick looks down and refuses to address the question to which everyone at the table knows the answer.

Ryan leans over and uses his most disarming voice to speak with the tortured editor. “I know this is not what you wanted to do with your life. I can see it in your eyes. And I also know that Tor has pretty much done this to you. Now is your chance to get back at him. Go to the FBI and tell them everything,” Ryan tells him. Rick exhales deeply and takes a long drink of a glass of water on the table. Ryan reaches into his pocket and pulls out a card. He turns it over and writes a number. “This is the number of my law firm. I recommend you bring a lawyer with you. I’ll pick up the bill for it.”

The editor looks at the card and takes it. Rick looks the CEO in his eyes. He looks at his wife. For the first time, he sees the two of them as human beings. “I’m sorry,” he tells the both of them.

“Apology accepted,” Ryan answers. Karin nods in agreement. Rick gets up from the booth and walks out of the restaurant. He makes his way to his car like a zombie. He is numb. He knows there is a hard road ahead of him. The FBI may arrest him. He may go to prison. His job at The Barbarian Blog is most definitely over. And his wife will leave him. But the one thing that haunts him is the thought of how Tor Janz will react when he discovers the betrayal. For most of his adult life, Tor Janz has been Rick’s financial provider and main tormentor. For a fleeting moment, the editor thinks about disappearing. “Just run away. Leave your family - they don’t want you anyway - and start a new life. No worries about Tor, Emperor Technologies or the FBI. Just run away.”

During the drive home, Rick begins to consider his escape options. He tries to mentally recall a list of countries with no extradition treaties with the United States. He considers draining his bank accounts. He tries to remember where he placed his passport. By the time he gets back home, Rick has outlined a plan for his escape. And only the will to do so stands in the way of Rick’s perceived escape to freedom.

I’ll sleep until the early morning. Then I will drive to San Francisco and make my way to South America. It’s all over
, Rick tells himself. The editor opens the door to his home. He walks inside and sees Abby standing there with her teddy bear. His five-year old daughter looks at him.

“What are you doing up, honey?”

“Mommy told me you came home this afternoon and I didn’t believe her.”

Rick freezes. In the four days that the editor was stuck at the office, he never considered that his only daughter would be concerned about his disappearance. The father begins to wonder what Abby’s life would be like without him. How many nights would she be standing next to the front door waiting for Daddy to come home?

Rick picks up his daughter and hugs her. “Daddy is home, honey. Daddy will always be home.”

“You should be getting a call from Rick Graves. He is going to the FBI. I want you to find him the best defense lawyer that you know. Don’t worry about the cost. I’ll be paying for it,” Ryan tells his General Counsel on his hands-free phone as he speeds back home.

“Okay. I know the best attorney for this,” Author responds.

“Thanks. Have a good night, Author.”

Ryan hangs up the phone. Karin feels badly about what may happen to Rick. “Is he going to prison?” the young wife asks.

“Not if he tells them everything. His lawyer should be able to negotiate immunity in return for the testimony. And I have connections at the FBI. My company has helped the Justice Department with their cyber-crimes networking systems. They owe me a few favors.”

Karin rests her head on her husband’s shoulders. It has been an especially long night for both of them. When the couple reach the house, Ryan helps Karin out of the car. He carries her into the house and takes her to bed.

****

“Where the fuck is Rick?!” Tor demands to know as he stomps his way around the warehouse office. Everyone moves out of the large boss’s intended path. That doesn’t stop the hefty blogging boss from shoving various employees out of the way. “That fucker better be in the hospital. First, he cuts out early now he is two hours late to work. It’s almost noon!”

Tor turns the corner and sees Rick standing there in front of him. Tor’s face is as red as Rick’s face is white. The blogging boss knows he has his editor terrified. He likes that. But what Tor doesn’t know is exactly why Rick is so terrified. He had just spent the last three hours at the FBI’s Palo Alto office. He has confessed everything. Now, Rick has been instructed by the Feds to continue on his job as though nothing strange is going on while the Federal agents seek a wiretap warrant against The Barbarian Blog.

“So you break one big story and decide to take a bunch of mini-vacations on me, asshole?!” Tor yells loudly enough for everyone in the office to hear. Rick is already scared but now he is humiliated. After all, he is one of the senior members of the staff. Having him dressed down in front of junior employees makes him feel even smaller.

“Sorry. I, um slept in.”

“I work harder than anyone in this office! Yet I find time to show up early! You are on very thin ice with me! You better not leave before me tonight!” Tor yells as he gets close enough to allow the spittle from his lips to hit Rick’s face.

Rick doesn’t say a word. He steals a quick glance around the office and sees just about every pair of eyes staring at him. The editor walks to his office with his head down. When Rick gets to his chair he sits down and looks at the wall ahead of him. He thinks back to his early morning meeting at the FBI office. The attorney furnished by Ryan’s General Counsel made him feel a little more comfortable. The editor has been told to go about his business and that the Feds will contact his lawyer with any next steps. While Rick is not sure exactly what will happen, he knows one thing is for certain - his days at the blog are numbered.

****

Karin watches her husband think. Ryan has changed since the late night meeting with the editor from The Barbarian Blog. He is no longer animated and spirited. He is focused and intense. When Author enters the CEO’s office, Ryan barely notices.

“Ryan, I just got off the phone with the FBI.”

Ryan turns around and looks at him. “And?”

“They tell me that the U.S. Attorney is going to meet with a judge to get a wiretap warrant. That means they could bug Tor’s offices as early as tonight.”

“Good.”

“Having Rick’s testimony is good enough for an arrest but they need Tor to admit that he ordered the hack if they want that son of bitch to go down and get convicted.”

“Tor is a smart guy. It’s not going to be easy.”

“But you also know that he is a blowhard. He just has to slip once.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Author leaves the office. Karin takes a chance to comfort her husband. She walks up behind Ryan and begins to massage his shoulders. “You’re going to get this guy.”

“Out of all the things I’ve accomplished, this is the one thing I am uncertain about.”

“Why?” Karin asks.

“Tor is smart,” Ryan tells his wife. He turns around and places his hands around her hips. “People underestimate him. That’s why he thrives.”

“His reputation has to be tarnished as soon as the hacking scandal is revealed.”

“Tor has a way of turning bad publicity into opportunity. If the FBI doesn’t get him, he’ll use all his resources to go after me, after you and after the company,” Ryan laments. “And that guy has the ability to do some damage.”

****

Minutes after the sun drops below the tree line around the Emperor campus, Ryan decides to take his wife out for the evening. The last 24 hours have been, unexpectedly, the most stressful of their entire time together.

“Where are we going?”

“I just want to see the water,” Ryan tells his wife.

The Audi stops at the Palo Alto Baylands park. The couple exits the vehicle and walk up towards the coast with a view of San Francisco Bay. The air is cool. The wind whips through both of their hair. Ryan puts his arm around his wife. “When I started my company 15 years ago, I used to come here to relax when things got bad,” Ryan explains. “There were times when I thought I would lose everything, when I couldn’t make payroll, when clients would walk out the door. I would just come out here and stare at the water because I didn’t have anyone to talk to.”

“Why not?” Karin asks.

“I didn’t want to reveal any weakness. I gave out this air of invincibility. I kept it all closed in here,” Ryan explains pointing at his chest. “I refused to have any meaningful relationships in order to ensure full attention to my business. That why I developed this reputation as a party guy. I allowed no woman to stay with me for more than a few months.”

Karin holds Ryan’s hand. In this moment, the CEO feels as though he is not truly alone. For the first time, he has someone as his partner. His equal.